Silver Eyes Chapter I: The Pain of Promises
by shadowsilv3r
Summary: "I won't fail her like I've failed you," Qrow spends some time with Ruby, and brings up some old memories in the process. Rated T for mentions of certain teenage boy antics. Now part of a series.


**Silver Eyes: Promise**

She was looking at him again…

Once again, like a repetitive ritual inside his head, Qrow reminded himself who it was that was looking at him with those silver eyes. Ruby Rose, huntress-in-training, cookie lover, his protégé, and… niece.

"Heya Kiddo," Qrow replied in a slightly tired voice as he ruffled her hair, causing a toothy, lopsided grin to appear on her face, _'Like her father,'_ he thought solemnly, "how's it going?"

"It's going good!" she said excitedly, "Weiss and Yang won the doubles round and now Yang's off to the singles round!"

"Heh," Qrow chuckled, "Firecracker will sweep the competition,"

"Mind if we spend some time to practice in the mean time?" Ruby pleaded, "Like old times?"

"Old times?" Qrow teased, "That had better not be a reference to my age again,"

"Heh," Ruby chuckled in a similar tone to Qrow's usual laugh, "Come on Uncle,"

Ruby had already turned around, so she didn't see the slight wince that shuddered over Qrow's body. _'It's for her own good, Qrow, please remember that'_ Taiyang's pleading voice sounded in the scythe-master's head as he followed his… niece.

The two scythe-wielders stood opposite each other in the school gymnasium. The apprentice with her weapon fully extended to its deadliest form; while the master had his weapon in its sword form while being held in his left hand.

"Come on Uncle!" Ruby pleaded, "I've gotten better since we last trained, you don't need to use you weaker hand,"

"I'll be the judge of that Kiddo," Qrow taunted, "come take a shot and find out,"

Ruby quickly turned her weapon so the blade was behind her, she then launched herself towards him using the power of the weapons recoil and her semblance to move at blinding speeds.

But Qrow was prepared for it, and deftly blocked the attack, though he did notice that he had to use a little more strength to hold back his niece's strike. _'Hmm… she has gotten better,'_

Qrow quickly twisted his weapon to dislodge himself from Ruby. He then struck at her in turn. She managed to block the strikes he put out, but they were a carefully telegraphed pattern he used with his niece many times before, so he expected her to block them.

Then, to throw her off, he bent his legs and swiped at Ruby's knees, the girl barely dodged out of the unexpected attack.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted, "You've never done that before!"

"Rule number one, Ruby!" Qrow recited his teaching to his apprentice, "Never expect anything from your opponent; he'll-

"He'll always try to switch things up to gain an advantage," Ruby finished the lesson as she shot the ground at her feet and flew into the air. As she began her descent she spun forward with her weapon outstretched, causing spinning blade that Qrow had to dodge, rather than block, to avoid any damage.

"That's a new one," Qrow admitted.

"Learned it from a friend of mine named Nora," Ruby admitted, "she uses a hammer in the same way,"

"Very clever," Qrow said as he switched his weapon to his right hand, "I think you've earned my full strength,"

Ruby squealed at the thought of finally being able to fight her uncle at full strength. But in the next few dozen seconds, she was flat on her back, with the sound of Qrow's chuckle as he retracted his scythe into its compact, portable form.

"Ouch…" Was all Ruby could mutter as she tried to comprehended the fact she just got utterly beaten.

"You've still got a ways to go Kiddo, but you're making progress," Qrow said as he offered his hand to her, which she accepted, "Come on; let's take a walk to unwind,"

This was a tradition of Qrow's and Ruby's; to take a relaxing walk after some training. Even if the spar was more of an attempt to gauge Ruby's progress then any actual training. He still enjoyed the quiet moments with his beloved… niece.

Soon enough, they found themselves relaxing on a bench in Beacon courtyard. Ruby sitting calmly as Qrow was more slouched in posture, enjoying the late afternoon atmosphere.

"Uncle Qrow?" the huntsman heard his niece ask tentatively.

"Yea kiddo?" Qrow acknowledged, prepared to answer any question she asked.

"What was mom like?" okay… not that question, for Qrow had physically jolted at the unexpected question.

"Um… ah…" Qrow hopelessly began, "Wouldn't you rather ask Taiyang that question?"

"Dad?" Ruby stated, "He doesn't like to talk about her,"

' _Know the feeling,'_ Qrow mentally sympathized with Taiyang before asking, "What do you want to know?"

"Just… what was she like…" Ruby asked as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt, _'so like her mother'_

"Well…" Qrow began as he tried to think of a response, "She was a lot like you in fact, especially in appearance, near spitting image,"

"But what was she _like_ like?" Ruby elaborated.

"She was… shy," Qrow began.

"Shy?" Ruby repeated.

"Very," Qrow said as the memories flooded through him, "Me and Tai spent a whole semester at Beacon thinking she couldn't talk, she was so quiet,"

"She and my sister Raven bonded quite well, like they were sisters themselves," Qrow explained, "I still remember Tai's expression when we found out she could talk,"

"What do you mean?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

Qrow chuckled to himself at the memory, "Tai was caught sneaking into the girl's locker room, back when beacon didn't have coed locker rooms, to spy on my sister or something. Summer caught him and gave him a piece of her mind back at our dorm, right in front of me while I was studying for a test. I think he was too dumbfounded by her ability to speak to understand what she was actually saying, I know I was,"

"Did she tell Raven?" Ruby questioned.

"Nope," Qrow said with a pop on the 'P', "She knew Raven would kill Tai if she ever found out, the two didn't exactly get along for the first few years at Beacon,"

"I see," Ruby said in understanding.

"And that was another thing about your mom," Qrow continued, a content smile on his face, "She always looked after her teammates and friends, even if she was mad at them, she always cared about people,"

"She sounds like me," Ruby admitted. Qrow turned to look at Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer Rose.

"Yea… she was kiddo," Qrow said while giving Ruby a warm smile, "she always was,"

"Oh, would you look at the time," Ruby exclaimed as she looked at her scroll, before standing up to run for the transport ship, "The next match is going to start, thanks for the talk Uncle Qrow"

"See ya Kiddo," Qrow said with a warm smile as Ruby ran off. But that smile quickly soured once Ruby was out of sight. He then pulled out that old photo of his team from their time at Beacon. Three of the figures in the photo. Taiyang, Raven Branwen and himself, stood proud and confident in the light, but leaning on the tree with her white hood up, all shy and calm, was Summer Rose. Qrow pulled out his flask with his other hand and popped it open to take a quick drink before he whispered, "Your… our, daughter is doing well Summer, I only wish you could see how she's grown, you'd be proud of her,"

Qrow then looked at his flask, before releasing a heavy sigh, "I only wish you could be proud of me. I… I try my best to watch over her, I know you don't approve of me training her to be a huntress, but it makes her happy at least. And I promise, I will never let anything bad happen to our daughter…"

Qrow looked at the direction Ruby took off, seeing the transport ship sailing through the sky towards the stadium as he said, "I won't fail her like I've failed you,"

 **Author's note:**

 **I literally can't accept any truth other than the potentially sad possibility that Qrow is Ruby's father. Summer and Taiyang were still a couple in my head canon. But I think Summer and Qrow had a falling out and separated first, but not before Ruby was conceived. So I can only imagine the angst Qrow would feel whenever he sees Ruby, the spitting image of the woman he loved and failed, as well as the physical representation of what they could have had together.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little one-shot I put up. I might do a sequel, but I'm not sure where it would go.**


End file.
